Using Canva for your logo?
Many clients we work with come to MincWork with logos that they’ve created using Canva (or AI). I appreciate and use Canva for my workshop and presentation slides, flyers for my groups, and things like LinkedIn banners. Laypeople don’t know that there are certain limits to what you can legally use the platform for. One is not allowed to use Canva to promote their business with the express purpose to make money.
For a therapist, the risks of using a Canva-made logo are significant, and they go beyond just the technical or legal issues. They also touch on professionalism and client perception, which are critical for a therapeutic practice. This article explains 3 of the problems with using Canva for your logo.
Issue 1: Intellectual property (IP) Law
If you use Canva to make a logo, you won’t be able to trademark your brand. Most therapists don’t have businesses/brands big enough to worry about trademarks or copyrights. Some associated enterprises, like Anna Walker’s Walker Strategy Co., would, though. Kirk Honda’s podcast, Psychology in Seattle has protected its title with a registered trademark from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
More importantly, when one uses a template or assets, (these are called “Elements” in Canva,) you won't own the intellectual property rights to them. Intellectual property is complex. In a nutshell, it protects creative labor and is its own niche within law, like labor law. Designers’ whole job and livelihood is making things that we all use every day. Like teachers, or doctors, or day laborers, their labor matters.
Intellectual property laws protect artists’ labor (which is often making ideas). This is one of the largest concerns with AI-generated images: they’re drawing from thousands of artists’ work without royalties or attribution. This exploits artist labor, which is why IP laws were created. AI will not make designers obsolete (because AI designs are crappy and you can’t usually make AI do exactly what you want), but it impacts them. You may not have considered artists when using AI or Canva, but they’re real people making and losing real money. This is why many artists and designers refuse to use AI–for ethical reasons.
Canva retains ownership of its content. They paid real people to make the elements: photos, videos, artwork, fonts, and templates. They contracted the designers so that they own the elements. Artists sold them to these platforms, (e.g, Getty Images; Adobe Stock). IP is why you also can’t just Google something and use what you find there to make money. Other people own it, and unless you buy it from the artist or license it from the second party, you’re breaking IP law. The most notable case of this was with Shepard Fairey (the Obey giant guy), who designed the Obama HOPE poster in 2008. The Associated Press sued him and he sued them back. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced for it.
When you create and use a logo, especially for financial gain, you are asserting that the design is your original creation, or that you paid for it and were given permission. When copyrighted or trademarked, you’re also asserting that you have the legal right to its exclusive use. You can't make that claim when you are using someone else's intellectual property, i.e., you can actually get sued if you’re using someone’s stuff without asking and/or paying for it.
You can “license” an image, which is kind of like renting it. An example is when you paid for and have permission to use a photo from a stock image platform or a font from Etsy. You can use these assets for specific things in specific contexts only. You're not buying the intellectual property outright, that belongs to the creator. You have been granted a non-exclusive license to use the content within the terms of legal agreements. This is why you cannot trademark a logo that uses someone else’s artwork– you don't have the exclusive rights to the design whether you signed a document or not.
Another thing you may not have considered is that because Canva's terms of use prohibit the use of their stock content for a trademark, you cannot legally protect your logo from being used by others. This leaves your brand vulnerable. You wouldn’t be able to sue someone if they made a website using your exact logo.
Here’s a video about Canva’s licensing agreement:
This video is relevant because it provides a detailed, jargon-free explanation of Canva's licensing and copyright policies, directly addressing the question of who owns the designs and if they can be trademarked.
While the legal risk of being sued by Canva is extremely low for simple non-commercial use, such as on your letterhead and forms, business card, or flyer, there is a risk of infringing on a pre-existing trademark. If another business has already trademarked a logo that happens to use a similar element from a Canva template (even though they broke other laws), you could face a legal challenge with them! Either situation could lead to costly rebranding, litigation, and possibly ramifications to your business’s reputation.
Issue 2: Uniqueness
When using Canva for your logo, it will not be unique. Any other Canva user who made something, (for therapists, often a head with a plant or brain in it,) will have a similar brand, including other therapists, wellness and medical professionals, or even unrelated companies. Nothing will set you apart from another business. This can lead to confusion, brand inconsistency, and diminish the therapist's brand identity. There are many examples of well-known therapists’ practices who rely on branding, such as LIMB, or many of the people you follow on social media.
Your brand could also be boring or not draw people in. While brand identity is not as big a deal as it is between Canon versus Nikon, you’d be surprised by how much your ideal client responds to your website. It could be the difference between standing out and keeping them on your page until they schedule a consultation, or closing the page before reading on and contacting you.
The perception of a "Do-It-Yourself" therapy practice: a therapist's brand should convey trust, expertise, and a high level of professionalism. A generic or "template-like" logo can give the impression of a makeshift, low rent, or low-effort practice. It may lead potential clients to wonder if the same lack of attention to detail, uniqueness, and creativity extends to the therapeutic services offered.
Issue 3: Inadequate file types
If you use Canva, you won't be able to get vector files, which are typically needed to scale your logo for different uses, (i.e., a banner, signage, mid-sized posters, or tablecloth for a vendor expo, conference, or community market) without losing quality. For more information on what a vector file is and why you need them, read our blog about it here.
This is the actual fine print from Canva:
“A trademark has to be a unique symbol which is exclusively used by a brand owner. For that reason, you cannot use any Free or Pro content from Canva’s library in a trademark (except for fonts, basic shapes and lines). If you want to design a unique logo for a trademark, you can:
Use any of our fonts
Use basic shapes and lines
Upload your own graphics (this might be a graphic you designed yourself, or commissioned from a local graphic designer).
Our logo templates are useful for small or personal projects where you don’t need exclusive rights [to make money]. You can also use them for inspiration – a starting point for your own unique design. But remember, other Canva users will be free to use the same content in their designs.”
For these reasons, we always advocate for and encourage small business owners to spend some time considering their options when it comes to design. If you paid less for a logo design on Fiverr, can you be sure they didn’t use Canva? A professional designer can furnish you with a legal contract, explain these issues to you, and furnish files you can use for multiple purposes.
